He was speaking of Zheng He.In the fifteenth century, Zheng He, a Chinese explorer, had a fleet of a hundred ships—dwarfing any European fleet of the day.

“But when push came to shove the emperor of China put internal security as a higher priority than exploration.”

I wonder sometimes if Zheng He ever wondered what was around the Cape of Good Hope.Did he take a new day job after coming back?What could possibly be better than the walls of mist in the morning with no land around you?What could be better than a world of constant exploration?

And I find myself in Zheng He.I don’t want to have job working construction on the Great wall of China.